1984 was an incredible year for cinema that saw the birth of many trends that are still relevant today. It marked an interesting year in which popular, commercial cinema also happened to be highly artful, with James Cameron’s The Terminator blasting through to make a tremendous impact upon science fiction. While Hollywood has now used sequels as a way of expanding upon some of its worst ideas, 1984 included two of the most underrated follow-ups of all-time in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
It’s rare for a year to have at least a few interesting releases every weekend, as even a box office flop like David Lynch’s Dune ended up earning a cult following. The popularity of ‘80s nostalgia is largely because of years like 1984, when it felt like Hollywood was in overdrive. Here are the ten greatest movie masterpieces of 1984, ranked.
10
‘Stop Making Sense’ (1984)
Stop Making Sense is the greatest concert film ever made and proved that the format could do something unseen in previous documentaries. While there had been filmed versions of concerts before, Jonathan Demme created something immersive and visually exciting with his rendition of the Talking Heads, managing to create a narrative experience that was wholly unique to cinema.
Stop Making Sense captures the audacity of the Talking Head’s greatest album whilst also finding humor within their ridiculous stage performances. It’s not only a tremendous work of art that identified Demme one of the most important directors of his generation, but a perfect time capsule for a specific era in music. The greater interest that acclaimed filmmakers took in looking closely at the artistry of specific musicians is a direct work of the groundbreaking work that Demme did, which was powerful enough to link two different industries.
9
‘Paris, Texas’ (1984)
Paris, Texas is a tremendous statement on the part of Wim Wenders, a filmmaker who would grow to become one of the most acclaimed arthouse directors in the world. The idea of fully embracing Americana as an aesthetic choice can often be misinterpreted as an endorsement of commercialism, but Wenders was able to make a beautiful, understated drama that explored the power of memory.
Paris, Texas is best known for the excellent performance by Harry Dean Stanton, an all-time great “character actor” who had only occasionally been offered the chance to take on a worthwhile leading role. Beyond the fact that Stanton’s anonymity was perfect for a character that the audience had to impress their own feelings upon, his performance was pitched at a very specific register that wouldn’t have worked as well had a bigger star been in the role.
8
‘This Is Spinal Tap’ (1984)
This Is Spinal Tap is one of the funniest films ever made, and also one of the truest when it comes to examining the life cycle of a rock band. Although This Is Spinal Tap is ruthlessly funny and immensely quotable, it’s also very honest in showing how bands can easily fall apart, fade into obscurity, or suffer as a result of their own success. It became so popular that the actors started doing some real concerts together.
Rob Reiner was the rare filmmaker who made masterpieces in nearly every genre, and This Is Spinal Tap pioneered the “mockumentary” format, which continues to inspire imitators to this day. Reiner also has a very funny role in the film as a documentary filmmaker creating a film about the fictional rock band, but the scene-stealers in This is Spinal Tap are Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer.
7
‘Blood Simple’ (1984)
Blood Simple was the inaugural film by Joel and Ethan Coen, who announced themselves as great American filmmakers by immediately making a masterpiece. Although it’s much tighter, darker, and more propulsive than anything else they would make, Blood Simple does have the type of dark humor and idiosyncratic characters that the Coens would become closely associated with. Some debuts may feel somewhat amateurish, but the Coens were immediately seen as the real deal.
Blood Simple marked the first of many collaborations between the Coens and Frances McDormand, and it also provided Dan Hedaya with one of his best roles. Blood Simple remains an inspiration for independent filmmakers everywhere; the Coens used a shoestring budget to create a subversive noir thriller with innovative camerawork and no shortage of twists, proving that it all it took was a great script for indie filmmakers to leave their mark on the industry.
6
‘Stranger Than Paradise’ (1984)
Stranger Than Paradise is a great film to introduce the style of Jim Jarmusch, a filmmaker who simply plays by his own rules. Plot development isn’t really all that important to Jarmusch, as his work tends to involve slow-burn stories that make the most of existentialist conversations between quirky characters. Stranger Than Paradise has some of Jarmusch’s sharpest lines, but also shows the beauty and philosophy that make his projects more complex than typical hangout movies.
Stranger Than Paradise is both a great road trip film and a powerful story about the cycles of life; the characters may hope to momentarily improve their circumstances, but they end up repeating the same mistakes over and over again. What’s most impressive is that Jarmusch can create mundanity without ever feeling cynical, as the film’s observational qualities prevent it from feeling like a direct criticism of its characters and their worldview.
5
‘Beverly Hills Cop’ (1984)
Beverly Hills Cop is the film that announced Eddie Murphy as the biggest star in Hollywood, even if he had been coming off the success of 48 Hrs. and Trading Places, two films in which he had a major co-star. Although the script had originally been written as a more grounded crime thriller with Sylvester Stallone in the lead role, Murphy turned it into the most perfect action-comedy imaginable, and created the prototype for everything that Jerry Bruckheimer would work on for the rest of his career.
Beverly Hills Cop is not only an example of how Murphy’s editorialization could heighten a script that was already great (and even earned an Oscar nomination), but a surprisingly solid action film that didn’t treat its crime storyline as a joke. It became one of the biggest R-Rated hits of all-time and guaranteed a franchise.
4
‘The Killing Fields’ (1984)
The Killing Fields is one of the most devastating, infuriating historical dramas ever made, but that’s why it’s an essential (albeit not very rewatchable) film to see. Set amidst the civil war between the Cambodian national army and the Khmer Rouge regime, The Killing Fields follows an American journalist (Sam Waterson) who investigates the nation, reporting on the massive casualties of human life.
Waterson gives what is easily the best performance of his entire career, but the standout role in The Killing Fields was from Haing S. Ngor, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Ngor was a non-professional actor who had previously served as a physician in Cambodia, but the realism that he brought to the role ensured that Roland Joffé’s approach to the material felt even more candid. While it can be hyperbolic to call Hollywood films “brave,” The Killing Fields is legitimately important for shedding light on an emerging issue.
3
‘Body Double’ (1984)
Body Double might be the wildest films of Brian De Palma’s career, which is no small statement considering how many outrageous thrillers he has made. While De Palma has made it no secret that he is a massive fan of Alfred Hitchcock, Body Double served as an absurd satire of Hollywood’s standards for content that managed to stir up a fair amount of controversy based solely upon its premise.
Body Double would have felt like pure exploitation had it been made by a less skilled director, but De Palma knew exactly what he was doing, and how to direct the viewers’ attention in a transgressive way. It’s also perhaps the finest example of the way that De Palma utilized music to create moments of operatic absurdism, as the sequence involving a performance of “Relax” by Frankie Goes To Hollywood is a standalone masterpiece in its own right.
2
‘Ghostbusters’ (1984)
Ghostbusters is not only the perfect summer blockbuster, but an incomparable achievement in the merging of genres. While it united four of the greatest comedy stars of the ‘80s into an incredible team of heroes, Ghostbusters was just creepy enough to feel like a legitimate supernatural adventure. At the same time, Ivan Reitman was essentially making a comedy about what it was like to start a business, and everything related to ghosts was secondary. Even if Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) acted like he was too cool for mythology, Ghostbusters developed a compelling universe based on its presumptions about spirits.
Ghostbusters had a brilliant script filled with quotable lines, and nailed the logo, vehicle designs, costumes, and music that would become iconic until the end of time. There have been many attempts to revitalize the franchise, but none of the successive films have touched the lightning-in-a-bottle magic that made the original Ghostbusters an undeniable masterpiece.
1
‘Amadeus’ (1984)
Amadeus is the perfect film about the race for artistic perfection and how those within a creative field are inevitably drawn into competition with one another. Although it’s a beautifully crafted period piece that has the most lavish production and costume design imaginable, the one-sided rivalry between Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce) feels decidedly modern.
Amadeus is an entertaining spectacle because of the mounting fury that builds within Salieri; even if he is often a loathsome character with a frail ego, it’s hard to not understand his frustration with Mozart, a genius who never had to work to be the best at his craft. It’s the last film in which the two male stars both were nominated for Best Actor at the Academy Awards, and the fact that Abraham managed to pull off the win for playing Salieri feels like the ultimate example of historical irony.
